Splitting machine



July 21, 1953 I s. D M s 2,645,921

SPLITTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 19, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor July 21, 1953 s, DUMAS 2,645,921

' SPLITTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 19, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 In vemfor' A lberf SDL/mas Patented July 21, 1953 SPLITTING MACHINE Albert S. Dumas, Salem, Mass., assignor to United i I Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J

a corporation of New Jersey 7 i i ApplicationAugust 19, 1952, Serial No. 305,150

6 Claims. (01. 69-10) This invention relates to splitting machines, and is illustrated herein as embodied in a machine of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,382,755, granted June 28, 1921, upon an application of W. C. Baxter.

In a machine of this type, a workpiece to be split is presented to a belt knife by feedin means comprising a gage roll which is adjustable to position the work relatively to the knife, according to the desired finished thickness of the work, and a cooperating feed roll which is adjustable to set up the desired gripping pressure of the made by observing the splitting and feeding action on the work, and making changes in the setting of the rolls until the desired operating conditions have been attained. In the performance of the usual type of splitting operation, the work, upon 'being inserted into the bite of the rolls, is presented to the knife without further attention from the operator, and a splitting cut will have been made throughout the length of the workpiece upon its emergence from the rolls. Ordinarily, so many workpieces are processed with one settingof the machine that the time consumed in adjusting it is of no consequence.

In another kind of splitting operation it may be desired to make a partial splitting cut, that is, a out which is stopped short of the end of the workpiece so that a flap is formed. upon the workpiece without being separated from it. For example, a toe cap for a shoe may be thus partially split to receive a stiffening member, the flap then serving as a lining. It is evident that in the performance of such an operation it must be possible to interrupt the feeding action of the ,rolls upon the work. These adjustments are 2 positions, without requiring part of the operator.

. Other features of the invention relate to means for facilitating the separate adjustment of the rolls, and other details of construction and combinations of parts which will be described with reference to the illustrative machine shown in the drawings, and pointed out in the appended claims.

any attention onthe Referring now to the accompanying drawings,

Fig. l is a front elevation of a splitting machine embodying the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the machine,

as viewed from the right, the section being taken along the line II-II of Fig. 1.

There will first be described such of the structure, common tothe machine illustrated herein and the above-mentioned Baxter machine, as

' will be necessary for an understanding of the rolls immediately when the splitting out isto stop, and this is most readily accomplished by moving the rolls away from each other out of engagement with the work. However, if the split in the succeedin workpiece is to be made in the proper location, the rolls must be returned exactly to their former operative positions. It is also evident that such continued resetting of the rolls would be impracticable unless it were accomplished without erroror loss of time.

present invention, these parts being denoted by the same reference characters in' both specifications.

A belt-knife [5, runs around two drums l1 which are mounted to rotate about horizontal axes at opposite ends of the frame 31. The stock to be split is placed upon a table 21, :and is fed and presented in the proper relation to the upper run of the belt-knife between an upper gage roll 29 and a lower feed roll 3|, these rolls being mounted upon shafts 33, 35 (Fig. 2) respectively, and continuously rotated when the machine is in operation. The drums H are unadjustable upon the frame 31 except for the purpose of tensioning the belt-knife; but'the rolls 29, 3| are mounted for heightwise adjustment upon a head 33,

and the head is horizontally adjustable upon the frame forwardly and rearwardly thereof along ways 4| (Fig. 1) on the frame and cleats 43 which are fixed thereto; By turning a hand wheel 5| in one direction or the other, the head 39 is moved horizontally (as'disclosed in the-Baxter patent) to adjust the rolls v toward or away from the knife. 3 V

Upon the ends of a, crossbar 6| are mounted a pair of bearings 13 (Fig. 2) which receive the shaft 35 for the feed roll 3|. The crossbar BI is supported, at each of its outer ends, by members I 83 which are pivoted upon the crossbar and are mounted to yield vertically within casings 'l'l.

Caps 19 threaded upon the upper ends'of the casings limitupward movement of the members 83 which are urged upwardly by springs (not shown) housed in the casings. The bases of the casings are bored to receive eccentrics 85 which arefixed to the ends of a shaft 81, the latter being rotatably mounted in the head 39.

The gage roll 29 is mounted in bearings fixed upon the ends of a bar 91 which is mounted for vertical adjustment along ways formed on the upper forward sides of the head 39. A 111g at each end of the bar 91, and integral therewith, retains a sleeve I09 within which is threaded an adjusting screw H3, These screws are mounted to rotate within lugs I21, without moving axially thereof, and the lugs are formed upon a crossbar II9 which is bolted at its ends to the top of the head 39. Upon the upper ends of the screws H3, H3 are fixed spiral gears I2I, I2I, and these gears mesh with a pair of spiral gears I23, I23 which are fixed upon a shaft I25 rotatably mounted upon the crossbar I19.

In the use of the Baxter machine, the shafts I25 and 81 are individually rotated by hand wheels to bring the rolls 29, 3I into their operative positions. That is, the gage roll 29 is adjusted toward or away from the belt-knife I according to the desired final thickness of the workpiece; and the roll 3I is separately adjusted with respect to the roll 29, according to the thickness of the work, so as to provide the proper gripping pressure between the rolls. In the performance of the usual type of splitting operation, many workpieces pass completely through the machine while the rolls remain in the same operative positions, and the time required to adjust them to meet changed requirements of the work is not of great importance. However, if the splitting cut in each workpiece is to extend through only a part of the length of the workpiece, as in the present instance, both rolls must be separated from the work when each cut is to be terminated, in order to interrupt the feeding action and facilitate the removal of the work from the machine; and before the succeeding workpiece is presented to the machine, the rolls must be returned to their former operative positions.

It is evident that it would be impracticable thus to operate the Baxter rolls repeatedly by the use of the adjusting means disclosed in the Baxter patent, because this means includes no provision for synchronizing or limiting the adjusting movements of the rolls. On the other hand, the machine illustrated herein is particularly adapted for performin the above-mentioned partial splitting operation by its novel mechanism for simultaneously retracting the rolls from the work when the splitting cut is to be terminated, and for returning the rolls to their operative positions in preparation for the next splitting operation without requiring, in either case, any attention on the part of the operator.

This mechanism comprises a pair of arms I50, I52 which are fixed upon the right-hand ends of the shafts I25, 81 respectively. Swivel blocks I54, mounted upon the forward ends of the arms, are bored to receive a treadle rod I56 which, at its lower end, is connected to a treadle I58. Knobs I60, I62 for adjusting the arms I50, I52, respectively, are threaded upon the rod I56 and are adapted to be engaged by the upper sides of the swivel blocks I54. Between the lower sides of the blocks I54 and pairs of locknuts I64, I64 threaded on the rod I56 are compressed springs I66, I66 arranged to hold the swivel blocks against the knobs. The rod I56 and the treadle I58 are urged upwardly by a coil spring I68 which is compressed between a collar I1II on the rod and an arm I12 which is fixed to the table 21.

The upper and normal positions of the rod and treadle, are determined by the engagement of a collar I14 with the lower side of the arm I12. With the rod in this position, the gage roll 29 is raised above its operative position, and the roll 3I is lowered beneath its operative position, both rolls now being so far from the belt-knife that they do not engage a workpiece in the usual operative relation to the knife, as when the end of a partial split has beeen reached.

To bring the rolls into their operative positions, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the operator merely depresses the treadle I58 until the lower of a pair of locknuts I16, threaded for heightwise adjustment on the treadle rod I56, en-

"gages a bracket I18 which is fixed to the front of the frame 31.

Assuring now that the treadle is held in its operative and illustrated position, and that the knobs I60, I62 have been adjusted so as to cause the rolls 29, 3I properly to grip the 'workpiece and present it to the knife, the operator inserts the workpiece to be partially split between the rolls. With the treadle held down, the splitting operation is now carried as far as desired; but, when the split is to stop, the operator rel-eases the treadle, and the rolls are returned, under the impulse of the spring I68, to their inoperative positions as determined by the engagement of the collar I14 with the arm I 12. The rolls, now having been moved out of engagement with the work, exert no further feeding action upon it, and the partially split work may readily be backed out of the machine.

Prior to starting the next splitting operation the treadle I58 is again lowered into its operative position. If the type of work is changed, so that more or less gripping pressure of the rolls against the work is required, or the split is to be made in a different position in the work, the knobs I60, I62 may be individually adjusted to bring the rolls into the desired operative positions. With any subsequent movement of the treadle to the lower limit of its travel, it is evident that the rolls will be moved simultaneously and accurately into their desired operative positions, without any further attention from the operator. I

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a splitting machine, a splitting knife, a gaging member for positioning a piece of'work to be split relatively to said knife, a feeding member cooperating with said gaging member to advance the work toward said knife, operator controlled means operable through a predetermined stroke for moving said gaging and feeding members toward and away from said knife between operative and inoperative positions, yielding means acting upon said operator controlled means normally to hold said members in their inoperative positions, and means for adjustably limiting movement of said operator controlled means at each end of its stroke.

2 In a splitting machine having a splitting knife, gaging and feeding members, operating means for each of said members operable in opposite directions to move said members toward and away from said knife, an operator controlled member for driving both of said operating means simultaneously, stops arranged to limit movement of said operator controlled member at each extremity of its movement, and yielding means acting upon said operator controlled member normally to cause said gaging and feeding members to be held in their inoperative positions.

3. In a splitting machine having a splitting knife, a gage roll for positioning the work with respect to the knife, a feed roll cooperating with said gage roll to advance the work toward the knife, in combination, operating means for moving each of said rolls into a predetermined operative position with respect to said knife, an operator controlled member for driving said operating means, and a spring acting upon said member yieldin gly to resist the movement of said rolls into their operative positions and arranged normally to hold them in their inoperative positions.

4. In .a splitting machine, a splitting knife, a gage roll, a feed roll, said'rolls being arranged to present a workpiece to said knife and mount:- ed for movement toward and away from each other between operative. and inoperative positions, operating means for eachof said rolls for moving them between said positions, operator controlled means-movable through a predetermined stroke for driving said operating'means, each of said roll operating means comprising an arm connected to said operator controlled means, and means for adjusting each of said arms with respect to said operator controlled means.

5. In a splitting machine, a splitting knife,

a gaging member, a feeding member, each of said members being movable toward and away from erative positions, said mechanism comprising an" arm associated with each of said members, a treadle-operated rod to which said arms are connected, and yielding means acting upon said mechanism to cause said gaging and feeding members normally tobe held in their inoperative positions.

6. In a splitting machine, a splitting knife, a gage roll, a feed roll, said rolls being arranged to present the workpiece to said knife and mounted for movement toward and away from each other between operative and inoperative positions, and operator controlled mechanism arranged normally to hold said rolls in their inoperative positions, said mechanism comprising an arm associated with each of said rolls, a treadle-operated rod movable through a predetermined stroke, and means for adjusting said arms upon said rod.

ALBERT S. DUMAS.

No references cited. 

